Both Weber gas grills I tested were effective and easy to cook on, but the nod goes to the Traveler here for its passionate embrace of portability. When folded up, the legs become a handle that you can pull behind you as if you’re walking with a nice roller bag. The legs on one side of the grill become a sort of handle when the grill is folded up; you can walk with weber charcoal grill it, kind of as if you’re pulling a nice roller bag. It has some other nice design touches, like the ability to transition the grill from folded to cook-ready with one hand, and a lid that locks automatically for transport and storage. The Weber Traveler heated up quickly, and I met no resistance when turning food on the porcelain-enameled cast-iron grates.
But, crucially, the GoBQ also performed quite well during the cooking tests. The grill is bigger than it seems, with 196 square inches of grilling area. It was actually bigger than several other grills I tested that didn’t fold up nearly as compactly. For the size and price, it may be tough to find a compact grill more powerful than the Cuisinart Grillster. Not only is it incredibly fuel-efficient, but this portable powerhouse reaches peak temperature within a matter of minutes after clicking the piezo lighter. A lightweight steel lid and three insulating walls give it the ability to both block wind and retain heat, allowing you to cook in less-than-ideal weather.
This is good for cooking lots of one type of food, but not so good if you’re hoping to cook different foods at different rates. Control is the criteria that most distinctly separates the highest performers from the rest of the contenders. For gas and electric, this metric was scored based on how many burners each product has and whether they can be adjusted to high, medium, and low temperatures. For charcoal, we assessed how easy it was to maneuver the coal bed to create heat zones.
A Traeger wood pellet grill offers the best combination of portability, versatility, safety, and ease of use for car camping and RV-ing. Even if you don’t have your own outdoor space, a portable grill can let you turn a campground or parking lot into your personal outdoor kitchen. The liquid propane canisters are also disposable, so they create a lot of waste for not much cooking time.
Controlling the temperature in a charcoal grill is all about vent placement, since you can’t turn coal heat down. But vents are also important for the airflow required to keep your coals lit. We found that a vent in the top of the lid and another in the belly of the firebox created the best air circulation.
The stand is easy to operate with clear indicators for raising and lowering it. It has two large carrying candles and latches on either side to hold all weber genesis 2 of the pieces in place. The bamboo lid doubles as a cutting board that rests on top of a plastic container where you can store grilling accessories.